When we first conceived Coursekit, we set out to build the perfect supplement to a college course: a product that combines world-class course management tools with the best of social networking. We’ve since come a long way.
It’s been a remarkable first semester. In December 2011, when we first launched the product, it was being piloted at 30 schools. Now, one semester later, it’s in use by courses at over 600 institutions.
As students and instructors engage on the platform, we’ve seen it used in ways we’d never expected. Our vision is to build the platform for learning—a global network of students, educators, and content. We’ve learned that it isn’t just about courses, it’s about people.
Today, I’m very excited to announce that we’re rebranding as Lore; a new name and visual identity that better reflect our ambitions. Lore means knowledge shared between people. The word is short and elegant, but waiting to be filled with meaning.
Our Creative Director, Aaron Carámbula, has done a masterful job designing the new visual mark for Lore. His remarks:
“We took inspiration from publishing imprints—traditional platforms for knowledge sharing—and their subtle, compact marks on the spines of books. The Lore mark represents our belief in challenging norms—a square peg in a round hole. With its stacked letters, it’s about building on what we have.”
While the current product remains unchanged for now, we’ve created lore.com/story to explain the transition and a site to explain our design process.
As we take on this new identity, I’m also thrilled to welcome Peter Thiel as an investor through the Founders Fund. He’s using Lore firsthand in his Stanford course, Startup, this quarter.
A name, and the larger brand, is a vessel. With Lore, we have a new vessel; a bigger, stronger one. Now we have to fill it. Join us.
Amazing job by the whole team.
